Recently a customer who owns a 455 cid F-body came by to purchase a torque converter from me. I asked him several questions in an attempt to find out why he was shopping for one, (my buddy told me so) and what the symptoms were that led him to the conclusion of converter replacement.

It turned out that the old one melted with the trans, (too much stall, too little gear), and he felt that there was something missing in the vehicle’s performance. I don’t care what the camshaft or compression may be, any V-8 that has 4.210” of stroke like the ’55 does is going to have little lacking in the acceleration department, unless you take some plugs out.

The dangerous thing to a street tired car is letting the motor unload for any amount of time longer than necessary. The customer wanted a 2800-rpm converter. 11” converter is what everyone might be saying to themselves.

I told him that it was way too much, and to think about the package a little more. 850DP, RPM, headers, hydraulic, 3.73, 3500lbs and a DOT sticky tire translates into gigantic torque monster at 2100 rpm with marginal traction.

Use the 12.5” job and make sure you’ve got your tune up right and you’ll kill most of the street crowd without the slushy converter. As of this writing he has called me back several times.

First time I guessed that it would be a complaint, but I told him going in, The Motor Has To Be Running On The Money. It wasn’t. Recurve the timing, throw away the 35 shooters for the carb and put the stock ones back in, make sure the thing isn’t running out of fuel, and roll the throttle open smoothly.

Better, picked up 400 rpm on the stall speed too. In the end, the same converter that stalled at 2100 now stalls at 2600-2700, and the catalog doesn’t say that.